Mr. Liam Woods:

In the case of consultants who did not sign the contract, if there were patients who needed priority clinical care then that care was provided, very often by those consultants making arrangements with other consultants who had signed the contract. I have come across such cases. When the committee had the IHCA in this morning, it indicated that consultants acted in this way to ensure continuity of care.

Those patients who are already in treatment, in effect, will continue in treatment as a clinical priority. New private patients coming in will go onto a common waiting list by facility. That is the normal rule set within the system.